Life in the studio

Month: February 2017

February and March are always the busiest time of the year in the studio and it’s always at this time that my thoughts turn to the Wonderwool Wales show that is only 8 weeks away (22-23 April 2017). Preparation for this show (and all shows) begin some 3 months before the show with a long “to do list” that I dutiful review every week in my bullet journal, and often feel like I make little real progress on until the pressure begins around now (6-8 weeks before)! With over 2 pages of products to create, I probably should have started a few weeks ago, but hey, who doesn’t work well under pressure! Today’s post is about a day in the bead studio.

As you can see below it’s fairly time consuming to produce each batch of stitch markers, photograph the set and upload to the website.

Show Prep

This will be the 8th Wonderwool Wales that Atomic Knitting has exhibited at, and I feel that the stand together with the whole show has come a long way since those early days. For Atomic Knitting there are usually over 1500 products to get ready/create, package and price up ahead of the show, then all the loose beads, buttons and ‘special items’ that I produce just for the show. In between there’s the stand design to consider as well as the relevant marketing paraphernalia that needs to be ordered around 6 weeks before. This is all in parallel with running the website, writing newsletters, creating new products, making up wholesale orders, photography and social media to name just a few tasks.

I do love it all though and am thankful that I can spend the day in such a creative way.

A day in the life…Leaf Stitch Markers

Here’s how today turned out the studio.

9:00am Coffee & BuJo

I usually start by making a list of what I want to achieve in the day, from creating new products to paying the bills, it all gets written down. I usually end up with about 5 or 6 things I want to accomplish, and I know I might only get 1 or 2 done today…the rest are there just in case!

9:15am Gather

First on the list today was the creation of new beaded leaf stitch markers. Once ready to begin the first product, I start by gathering together the beads, findings and tools that I need. In this case, leaf beads in multiple colours, Swarovski Xillion crystals in all available colours, seed beads, findings, rings, clasps, ribbon, card and packaging. I’ve had the leaf beads in stock for a little while and last week had a new batch of Swarovski Xillion crystals arrived that were sparkling away on the desk, catching my eye.

9:30am Design

It took around an hour to make up one of each of the seven designs that have been released today. Each marker is made using a leaf bead, a Xillion Swarovski crystal and seed beads. There’s a variety of gold and silver plated designs, and the Make Your Mark service is available on all seven designs.

10.30am Nettle Tea Break & Email check

The email check reveals a couple of orders have come in to be processed and dispatched later today.

10.45am Make

Now the designs are finalised it’s time to create multiple versions of each one including Make Your Mark sets. Markers to fit 4mm, 7mm, crochet and removable markers are made up.

Each set is ribbon tied on card and packaged ready for immediate dispatch.

12.30pm Lunch

1:15pm Photo

Meanwhile the dark rain clouds had rolled in, at the time I wanted to get the photography done. I usually prefer to use natural light where possible in the product photography and that just wasn’t going to work today, so out came the full studio lighting rig and after about an hour, the shots of the seven designs were ready to go on the website. The last of these designs are also packaged up.

1:45pm Upload

Once the photos are uploaded, they are cropped and tidied up ready for the website. The final uploads of each product are now available to purchase here (or at Wonderwool Wales!).

2:30pm Orders & Post Office run

The orders received overnight and so far today are picked, packed and dispatched (this was quick today as all product ordered was available for immediate dispatch!). A quick run to the Post Office then back to the studio.

3:45pm Tea & Teacake

Naughty, I know but it was soooo cold outside and I really fancied something with a cup of tea!

4:00pm Website

Updates to the front page carousel with a new picture of the leaf stitch markers.

4:30pm Blog

Time to start writing the blog, collating pictures and publishing! Narrowly finished at 6pm ready to publish later. A quick review of the BuJo (not much to tick off today!) then a tidy up, finally closing up the studio at 6.15pm.

Phew – that was a busy day! I’m really pleased with the Leaf Stitch Markers and I always enjoy making them. Now time to head home and publish this blog and flip a pancake or two.

Very happily our British Heart Foundation Just Giving page now has a grand total of £35 towards our £100 goal. Wow! Thank you!

If you would like to help support through sales of Atomic Knitting Charity products, our shop is here. The shop has been restocked for immediate dispatch today. I will continue to donate on a monthly basis to our Just Giving page with donations from the specific products in the shop link.

A huge thank you to everyone that helped support this charity through Atomic Knitting. I hope with your help, we can make another fantastic donation next month.

February is often associated with St Valentines day and typical images of hearts and flowers. This February at Atomic Knitting we have decided to add to our charity work by supporting the British Heart Foundation (BHF). We’ll be donating the proceeds of sales of a selection of our exclusively designed heart themed knitting and crochet notions, including heart stitch markers sets, a beaded heart progress marker and a red foil heart Portuguese pin.

Our Just Giving page has been set up here and we will donate to it directly every couple of months with the proceeds of these sales (in the same way that we have been doing for Cancer Research UK).

To kick start our campaign, from today until 15th February, 10% of all Atomic Knitting website sales will also be donated in addition to the sales of our specific BHF charity products to our BHF Just Giving page.

Hello! I design, manufacture and create useful things to aid knitting and crochet from my bead studio. This blog isn't all about knitting though, as food, music, culture and even Dr Who feature!
I'm partial to a bit of creative coding and have a fondness for all things data.